Outlet City Tartarga
by Arcade Lackey
Summary: What if Turbo regenerated after his hot shower above Diet Cola Mountain? What if he simply shrugged it off and decided to just go live somewhere else after quickly creating a new identity for himself? Oneshot. This could potentially be continued later as a humor/romance story, though there are no hints of romance at all in this oneshot.


Burning. That's the first thing he remembered. It was bright, it was hot, and he was scared. But then the world was reset. He gleefully thanked his lucky stars that he was smart enough to make his files a part of the game before he even dared stuff his consciousness into the body of 'that insufferable king', as he would later come to think of him.

He cautiously eyed the unconscious ruler of Sugar Rush as he lay there beside the now-refilled spring of broiling hot diet cola. Even the mentos stalactites had regenerated, he noticed as he looked up. _I have half a mind to toss him in there, but this works better._ He chuckled darkly to himself as he reached into the pocket of the king's jacket for his napkin containing the Konami Code. _First thing's first, I have to get back to the code room._

While everyone else was busy celebrating the return of the princess and (technically) rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, Turbo quickly made his way back to the before anyone else returned. _Yes, the place is definitely pink.. Who would believe this is salmon?_ He scoffed as he darted for the code room, knowing that he had only a small fraction of time before there was a good chance he would be discovered. _I have to work fast.. Up Up, Down Down, Left Right, Left Right, B A Start.. Forget about the rope for now, it'll be fine.  
_

The door slid open to reveal the dark void of the code room. The files connected by thin wires which pulsated with the game's lifeblood glimmered gently, providing just the right amount of light. _Turbo-tastic._ He chuckled darkly to himself again. _You can __**have**__ your game, little girl. And you can have your __'__adoptive __**father**__'__ back as well, for what good __**that**__**'ll**__ do__ you. I just need __**this**__._ He made his way to the unused avatar creation file and began work on his new identity. _Since I don't have to pretend to be that insufferable king, I can at least make myself tall. Normal skin tone, of course. No lisp. It was hardly noticeable, but annoying all the same. Wait.. Let's make 'myself' taller first. Why didn't I do this before?! _He scoffed._ Not like it matters now._

It didn't take long before he floated there as a tall young man, seemingly in his early 20s. He had medium-short, messy black hair and wore a white suit with the collar popped up as well as black dance shoes. And of **course** his skin wasn't grey in this form. "I'll call him Terrance," he said with a laugh just before cocking his brow at something he noticed. _Oh, what's this? __**Transparency**__.._ He grinned a toothy grin. _Yes please. Invisibility will no doubt come in handy.._

He quickly swam out once his work was done and the door slid shut behind him. _'Terrific'.. _He scoffed and rolled his eyes._ Puns are the one thing that insufferable king and I have in common, aside from original height of course._

The Oreo guards who had only just returned moments before were confused when the door opened a crack by itself and nobody came through. They simply shrugged it off and shut the door as Turbo slipped past them as silently as he could, grinning his invisible grin. _Now I just need to get out of here. And I know __**just **__the place.._

Turbo struggled not to laugh as the surge protector appeared at the gateway to Sugar Rush with nobody around to question.

He quickly made his way to the train heading out to the outlet and shifted into his white-suited form before boarding. He grinned to himself innocently. _Sayonara, suckers!_

"Outlet city, Tartarga," a woman's voice rang out throughout the train.

"Well, this is my stop," Turbo said through a laugh as he disembarked into the grungy, steampunk-inspired city of Tartarga. _Now, first of all I'll need a place to stay, hmm.._

To others, this place was also known as 'The Netslum'. For three and a half years it had been a gathering place, a place of refuge for those without a game to call home, regardless of which platform they originally came from. It was complete with a backup copy of the very game Tartarga came from as well, '.hack/G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption', using the excess power within the outlet to fuel its various amenities and game functions.

"Ah, excuse me, my canine friend," Turbo said politely as he grinned downward at a patchwork robotic dog creature with a television screen for its face. Oddly enough it also wore a red scarf around its thick neck. _When was the last time I even came here, I wonder? It hasn't changed at all since then._

"Welcome to the Netslum," the dog said politely in a robotic voice, "Paradise for hackers, abnormal AI's, and formerly homeless game characters. You might call it a pile of the world's junk data."

"Yes, yes, I know," Turbo said while playfully rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms, "I was wondering how one would find a home here. A place of residence, if you will." _I'll never get used to these things, but they're affable enough._

"For that you should ask the receptionist over there," the dog said as it turned to face a robotic humanoid behind a desk which also had a screen for its face, "But be prepared to pay." It laughed a robotic "Ahahahaha".

"That will do," Turbo said as he saluted the large creature and moved onward to the receptionist's desk. _Well I've got no money, yet. It shouldn't be that difficult I'm sure._

"Welcome to the Netslum," the screen-faced man said as Turbo stepped up to his desk, "Parad-"

"Yes, yes, I know," Turbo said while playfully rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms. _I was literally __**just**__ given the same greeting._ "I would like to know where a guy like me can find a place to live around here. I had to move out of my old home in a bit of a hurry, you see, and there's basically nowhere more suited for me than here." _Two years ago! That was it.. That's when I was last here. Just a few-hour holiday away from the kids._

"I'm sorry to hear that," the receptionist said politely, "We have room available in both Kestrel and Canard's guild at!Homes."

"Guilds, hmm?" Turbo asked, "Give me a brief rundown, it's been years since I came here last." _Kestrel or Canard.._

"A guild is-" the receptionist started politely before Turbo held up his hand to gesture for him to stop.

"What are Kestrel and Canard like, is what I mean," Turbo said wryly, "I know what a guild is." _I'm no invalid, don't spoon feed me definitions._

"My apologies," the receptionist said politely, "Kestrel is a guild that focuses on free will above all else, while Canard is a guild that focuses on cooperation and helping those in need of help."

"How does one go about joining Kestrel?" Turbo asked wryly, "That's much more my style." _'Free will'. That's one way to put it._

"We can put you in contact with the Guild master," the receptionist said politely, "however to join, you will need to pay 5,000GP per month as rent."

"Yeah, okay," Turbo said with a nod, "So how would I earn 'GP' to start with? I don't exactly have armor and weapons at the moment." _I should have thought about that before leaving. I could have taken an __Oreo__ guard's lance __at least.._

"You can apply for a loan here," the receptionist said politely as he pulled out a pen and loan form.

"Much appreciated," Turbo said plainly as he cocked a brow, glancing over the terms, "Yes, I can do this.." He quickly wrote down the information requested, being sure to write his name out as 'Terrance'. _I don't need to give myself away._ He scoffed.

"Excellent. Now just press your thumb on this scanner here," the receptionist said politely as he gestured to a small fingerprint scanner on the desk.

"It's a good thing I've got thumbs," Turbo scoffed as he did as instructed. _I'm sure there are alternatives for those who don't, not that I care._

The receptionist's face lit up in binary as it processed the incoming data from his scanner, linking the print with the information on the form which was just written out. "Enjoy your stay in Tartarga, Terrance," he said politely.

"Alright, so I'd like to join Kestrel," Turbo said as he curiously looked at his thumb. _Well it's not much, but 10,000GP will tide me over for a while._

"Excellent," the receptionist said politely as he pulled out a guild membership application.

Turbo rolled his eyes and scoffed to himself as he filled it out and scanned his thumb once more. _Freakin' bureaucrats.._

The receptionists face-screen flashed after processing the information and a rather tall, red-skinned beast man with white hair and a beard appeared on it. He wore a blue and gold 'suit' which left his shoulders exposed. He wore spiked arm gauntlets which matched the rest of his outfit.

"I'm Gabi!" Gabi said in a loud, excited tone from within the receptionist's face-screen, "Welcome to Kestrel.." He paused to look at a copy of the form. "Terrance! Our guild's at!Home is in the Delta server. Use the Keywords, 'Sneering Failing Empire'! Upon arriving, speak with Gao Grunty! He's just like me, but tiny! You can't miss him!"

"Got it, boss," Turbo said with a laugh. _I like this guy already._

"Please!" Gabi said in a loud, excited tone, "I'm Gabi!"

"I'll remember that!" Turbo said in an attempt to sound just as excited, topping it off with a fist pump.

Gabi laughed and bade Turbo farewell, Turbo doing the same before the receptionists digital face returned to normal.

Turbo sighed after laughing for a moment. _This is going to be so freakin' fun.. My only regret is that I was born to race._

* * *

**Author's Note:** This is just an idea I had for another story. I'm not exactly sure what kind of interest this would get in the first place. .hack/G.U. is an actual game series, for PS2.

So what are your thoughts?


End file.
